Improvement in hinged covers for gas-retorts



P. MUNZINGER.

HINGED COVERS FOR GAS-RETORTS. L No. 187,768. Patented Feb.27, 1877.

. Wmmmlwnlnulunlll wu fufmmunlllygl WITNESSBS? UNITED STATES PATENT OTEEIcEo PETER MUNZINGER, ,OE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNO'R TO MORRIS, TASKER 85 CO., (LIMITED,) OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN HINGED COVERS FOR GAS-RETORTS.

Speciicationt'orming part of Letters Patent No. 187,768, dated February 27, 1877; application tiled March 29, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PETER MUNZINGER, of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hinged Oovers for Gas-Retorts, ot' which the following specification is hereby declared by me to be a full, clear, and precise description, and sufti cient to enable those skilled inthe art to which my invention appertains to construct and employ it, reference being had to the ac companying drawing, forming partv of this specification, and representing a retort mouth piece and cover embodying my invention-in Figure l in perspective, in Fig. 2 in central Sectional elevation.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

My invention relates to a class of devices aiming to ettect a fluid-tight joint between the cover and mouth-piece of gas-retorts Without the employment of loam or other luting, and has for its object such ajoint; to which end it consists in the interposition between thecrossbar and the cover of what I term a radial presser-piece, connected at Aa single central point to the cross-bar, and at two or more peripheral points to the cover, and which operates to divert the clam pin g-pressure exerted upon its central portion by the cross-bar from the central portion of the cover to a series of -points or to a line approximately above and following` the line or surface of contact of the cover and mouth-piece, whereby a very tight closure is effected by the uniformly-distributed pressure bearing alike down upon every p0rtion of the parts forced into contact, all sub stantially as herein after set forth'andclaimed.

With reference to lthe drawings, the construction of my device is as follows:

' A isthe neck or mouth-piece of the retort 5 B, the cover; C, the cross-bar, hinged to the mouth-piece, all made in any convenient and well-known form, the special structure shown, however, being preferred. D is the hinged bar, carrying the cam-lever E, as specified and claimed in my Letters Patent No. 166,131, of July 27, 1875, and here employed in similar manner to exert pressure upon the crossbar. F is a set-stud, screwing through the cross-bar and rotatably shouldered into my radial presser-piece Gr, in the construction and employment of which this my iuventioncenters.

This radial presser-'piece is formed conveniently, as shown in-the drawingsthat is to say, with four branching arms, tending out ward and downward from an elevated central portion, in and through which portion theset-stud` F abuts and acts to adjust the bearing-tension of the entire piece, such adjustmeut being, when desired, made possible by the employment of elastic material, such as wrough tsteel,in the manufacture of the presser-piece; but two or three arms may be em- .diferent arms will vary, and when it assumes the form of a plate under' like condition of cover and mouth-piece the radial dimension of different portions of the plate will likewise vary; but in every case the structure of the piece is such that the pressure is diverted from the elevated central portion to the peripheral points or line of contact of the presser-piece with the cover, which, as hereinbefore set forth, is approximately above the contact-surface of the cover with the mouth-piece.

When the cover, is elliptical two set-studs may be employed, having bearings upon the foci of the cover, and, when desired, the presser-piece may be rigid and not elastic, solid connections replacing adjusting setstuds.

The extremities of the arms of the pres-ser- `piece are loosely secured to the cover Vby caps H or by an annular overlapping ring. When the piece is a plate, a certain amount of play being allowed to enable the cover to settle 

